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I've setup a newly purchased Gigabyte Brix GB-BKi3HA-7100, and I have installed Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon (version 3.8.8). The graphics card I have is an Intel HD Graphics 620.

I've connected the Gigabyte Brix to a 27" monitor via HDMI. When booting up, I need to use nomodeset to successfully boot into Linux Mint Cinnamon. After booting up, I am limited to an 800x600 display and hardware rendering is disabled. Obviously, I need to install the graphics card driver for the Intel HD Graphics 620.

If I boot without using nomodeset, I just get a blank "no signal" from the monitor.

My working assumption is I need to install a driver, but I'm confused about how exactly this is done. After reading some tutorials about Linux driver installation, it seems the general idea is that a modern Linux distro is supposed to come with all the drivers you need "out-of-the-box". Proprietary drivers, such as the Intel driver I need, should already exist on the system, and can be installed using the "Driver Manager" in the "Administration" menu.

However, when I go to the "Driver Manager", no drivers are listed at all. I've done an apt-get update along with an apt-get upgrade just in case, but I can't find this driver anywhere. Similarly, Googling for the Linux Intel HD Graphics 620 driver results in many dead-ends. The official Intel page claims (as noted above) that all relevant drivers should simply be pre-installed with the Linux distro.

When I look in System Info, I see that the system recognizes my graphics card. It lists it as "Graphics Card: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 620". However, since I am limited to 800x600 resolution with no hardware rendering, I assume the actual driver is not being utilized.

So, how can I go about finding/installing this driver? And in general, what is usually the process for installing a proprietary third party driver like this? Should I expect to find it already installed?

If the issue is not driver-related, is there an error log somewhere that may record what goes wrong when I boot without nomodeset? (Obviously, I'd need to reboot with nomodeset to even read the log.)

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    The pages you referenced are correct, all the Intel video drivers are contained in modern Linux distributions (Mint included) for at least 6 or 7 years, and they automatically detected and loaded, and Driver Manager is not needed (the Xwindow system's default drivers handle this). Also, you shouldn't have to use nomodeset for any Intel GPU that is embedded in a Nth generation processor. It sounds like your Monitor/TV is not being detected properly, either due to it's HDMI port or the cable.
    – acejavelin
    Sep 26, 2018 at 3:28
  • When I boot without using nomodeset, I just get a blank "no signal" from the monitor. Presumably, the monitor isn't being detected properly as you said. Is there some way to get some kind of an error log that shows what went wrong? The problem is I can't actually see anything without doing nomodeset, so I'd have to boot without nomodeset, let it go to the blank "no signal", then reboot it with nomodeset and check an error log.
    – Siler
    Sep 26, 2018 at 4:09
  • @acejavelin is entirely correct. The kernel has had the intel drivers embedded for quite a few years thus far. Have you tried with a different monitor or HDMI cable?
    – td512
    Sep 26, 2018 at 4:24
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    @acejavelin, thanks. It was the HDMI cable. If you want to copy/paste your comment as an answer, I will accept it.
    – Siler
    Sep 26, 2018 at 19:53
  • I will cleanup my previous comments and post as an answer.
    – acejavelin
    Sep 26, 2018 at 20:10

1 Answer 1

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Linux Mint 19, and every other desktop distribution I am of that have been released in the last 10 or so years, have the Intel GPU drivers (kernel modules) pre-installed and active in the default kernel, and they auto detected on each boot. The issue here should not be related to Mint directly.

The most likely cause of the problem here is Linux Mint is not "seeing" your monitor correctly, either it is reporting itself incorrectly which is unlikely, but possible especially of the monitor is older. Or the other likely alternative is the cable is defective (or not of high enough quality) and communication is not working properly from the GPU to the monitor.

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